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News

 

 

A weekly geopolitical
update

By Keating Smith,
Contributor

Africa: (South Africa) 12,000
miners have been fired from
Anglo American Platinum,

the world’s largest platinum

producer. According to
the BBC, three weeks of

illegal strikes have cost the
mining company over $82
million USD in revenue
after “South African mining
has been hit by a wave of
wildcat strikes, in which
miners and officials have
been killed [since August].”
The union has come out
saying they are willing

to fight to death over the
firings.

Americas: (United States)
American Presidential
candidate Mitt Romney has
admitted that declaring 47
per cent of Americans as
government ‘dependants’
was "completely wrong.”
Romney was secretly
filmed during a luncheon
fundraiser last May. In

response to the incident,
Romney said that "clearly in
a campaign, with hundreds
if not thousands of speeches
and question and answer
sessions, now and then you
are going to say something
that doesn’t out come
right.”

Asia- Central & South:
(India) Public access to
Facebook and YouTube

has been blocked in India’s
Kashmir region. The

move is believed to be "in
response to the protests
against the anti-Islam video
[Innocence of Muslims] on
YouTube.”

Asia- Pacific: (Hong Kong)
The captains of a ferry

and a pleasure boat were
both arrested after the two
ships collided in Hong
Kong, killing 38 people.
The incident is the city's
worst maritime disaster

in decades. The men were
arrested on Tuesday, with
five others also arrested.
The ferry passengers were
watching a large National
Day display of fire works
when the two boats collided
earlier last week.

Europe: (Turkey) Turkey’s
foreign policy with Syria
radically changed after a
mortar attack on a Turkish
village bordering Syria
killed five civilians. Officials
in Damascus have publicly
apologized to Turkey for the

Sisters in Spirit Vigil at Douglas College

By changing yourself
you can change the
future’

By Joel MacKenzie,
Staff Writer

n October 4, the

Douglas Students’
Union (DSU) organized a
candlelight vigil at both
the New Westminster and
the David Lam campuses
in support of the Sisters in
Spirit movement.

The vigil was intended
to “bring focus and
awareness to the over 500
missing and murdered
Aboriginal women in
Canada,” said Jenelle
Davies, Women’s Liaison
of the Douglas Students’
Union, during an interview
with The Other Press. “We
want to bring awareness to

it, and humanize victims...
it’s not just a number of
people that are missing. It’s
actual mothers, daughters,
sisters, grandmothers, and
aunties.”

About holding the vigil
at Douglas College, Davies
said, “Our students are
very progressive and they
really care about what goes
on around them and in the
community...it shows the
community that we are
ready to stand up for issues
that are important to us.”

The New Westminster
vigil included speakers
such as Davies herself,
Katie Marocchi from the
Canadian Federation of
Students of BC, the DSU’s
Aboriginal Liaison Madison
Paradis-Woodman, Mona
Woodward, Executive
Director of the Aboriginal
Front Door Society, and
Lorelei Williams, a women’s

youth outreach worker at
the Aboriginal Front Door
Society and the Project
Director of the Butterflies
in Spirit Project, which
performs in support of
the missing or murdered
women.

Woodward and
Williams recited personal
accounts of their families
being affected by this issue.
Woodward’s cousin Ashley
Machiskinic died from
falling from a window in
Vancouver’s downtown
east side at 21-years-old in
2010. She “was thrown out
the window like a piece of
garbage...over a $50 drug
debt,” she said. Williams
named four members of her
family that are missing or
have been assaulted, raped,
or murdered.

Speakers referenced
feelings of helplessness
and worthlessness that

Aboriginal women face

in Canadian society. “We
were taught at a very
early age that society does
not value an Aboriginal
woman,” Woodward

said. She referenced the
police’s lack of interest
concerning the cause of the
womens’ deaths, and their
negative media portrayal.
Machiskinic, for instance,
whose death “everybody
knew...was murder,” was
only declared as suicide
until a group, including
Woodward, protested

at the Vancouver Police
Department.

Woodward said that the
positive impact that these
events have had on her is
to “advocate for women
who don’t have a voice.”
She added, “By changing
yourself, you can change
the future, just by taking
that moment to take note, to

shelling, but Turkey’s Prime
Minister, Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, still warned Syria
that the countries were "not
far” from wart.

Middle East: (U.A.E) A
replica of the India’s Taj
Mahal is slated to be built
in Dubai with a $1 billion
price tag. The project is
scheduled to be completed
by 2014, compared to the
decade of construction
that the original took.

The building dubbed

the ‘New City of Love’
will “host a 300-bedroom
hotel, a shopping center,
commercial area, and much
more” claims developer
Arun Mehra.

take action.”

The vigil also included
a petition from the Native
Women’s Association
of Canada addressed to
Prime Minister Stephen
Harper asking for a national
inquiry into the over 582
occurrences of missing
or murdered Aboriginal
females in Canada. It calls
for the identification of the
factors causing this issue,
and the “remedy” of the
“individuals, processes
and policies responsible for
maintaining the status quo.”

More information can
be found at www.nwac.ca,
www.october4th.ca, and
the petition can be signed

online at www.gopetition.
com/ petitions /sisters-in-
spirit-initiative. html.

Student Ambassadors spreading midterm cheer Oct 9 and 11

he Douglas College

Student Ambassadors
will be spreading some
midterm cheer on Tuesday,
October 9 and Thursday,
October 11 from 9:30
a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the
concourse at the New
Westminster Campus.

The Ambassadors

will be checking in with
students to find out how
their semester is going
thus far. If students need
any additional support
or information, the
Ambassadors will direct
them to the appropriate
department. Students
will also receive some

free healthy snacks and
have their names entered
into a draw to win a Tim
Horton’s gift card. Come
by to check it out!

With files from Naomi Ambrose